CEO Fellowship is a 501c(3) nonprofit and its name stands for “Christian Executive Officers Fellowship”. The Fellowship was founded in Brentwood, TN (click here for map of current location ) in 2005 by Joe Greene. In the mid 1970’s, Joe was the President of Operations for Humana, which was the world’s largest hospital company at the time. It was then that he sensed God calling him to start his own company and run it on Christian principles. When Joe began to mention the idea to some of his Christian friends in the business world.
Yet, None supported him.
No one believed that you could run a company based on the principles in the Bible and have any real success. God made it clear to Joe that this was his calling and that he would not be truly happy unless he pursued it. In 1977, Joe started Health Management Associates and set about learning to run a company using the Bible as his primary business book. As the company grew, Joe implemented scripture as he learned it. When he read Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act,” Joe decided it was time to buck the business world’s policy of paying bills 30-60 days after they are presented in order to maximize the interest on the money in the bank. He made it a policy at HMA that if the money was in the bank and a bill came in, that bill was to be paid immediately – not withholding good from the vendor who deserved it. One day, six to nine months after implementing this policy, one of HMA’s vendors paid a visit to their headquarters in Naples FL and asked to speak with Joe. They told him they had never done business with any company like HMA and that they were so impressed with their policies that they wanted to do as much business with HMA as possible!
In 2005 at the age of 73, God called Joe into another adventure. Joe knew it was time to pass on all that he had learned in his company to today’s Christian business leaders; and CEO Fellowship was born.
CEO Fellowship started as a weekly meeting of 12 men at the Brentwood Country Club. Joe was soon joined by Leonard Isaacs, Brentwood Baptist Church’s Pastor Scott Harris, and Alex Harvey.
At a 2009 CEO Fellowship meeting, Joe asked the 60 men and women present to write down the total number of employees, customers and vendors they came in contact with on a regular basis. That number indicated their company’s direct sphere of influence. Then he asked them to multiply that number by 3 to include the families of each of those individuals; that number comprised the company’s total direct and indirect influence. When each of the numbers from the companies represented were added together the total impact was 2,424,000 people. That is why CEO Fellowship exists. The men and women today who run companies have tremendous influence in the marketplace. The CEO Fellowship exists to teach these leaders to view their company as their mission field and to equip them to run profitable companies based on biblical principles.
CEO Fellowship Mission Statement:
To equip CEO’s and leaders of companies to run their business on Biblical Principles.
CEO Fellowship Vision Statement:
Our Vision is to advance the kingdom of God by equipping & encouraging Christian business leaders to operate their businesses on Biblical principles. This is accomplished through teaching, fellowship, prayer, mentoring, accountability and example.
CEO Fellowship Core Values:
God wants to be glorified in all aspects of a Christian’s life, including business, and has provided principles for success as illustrated in the Bible.
The Bible is God’s knowledge and wisdom for effectively and efficiently serving vendors, employees and customers.
Jesus is the best mentor of effective personal and organizational leadership.
Every business should be Christ Centered and Vision Driven.
Christian executives should pray for and encourage one another.
